Feeling rebellious toward his overprotective and neurotic mother, 16-year-old Souma Mitsuya cares only about his violin and his hospitalized grandfather. On the night his grandfather's condition suddenly worsens, an earthquake hits, and Mitsuya finds himself lost and alone in Japan of the year 1921.

there's a thread of melancholy throughout the story, but also some very touching and funny moments. i don't usually like the historical genre so i kept putting it off and now i'm kicking myself. i could have discovered this gem over a year ago. i found this story beautiful and well-written with interesting characters. it stayed with me for days after i finished reading it. the ending is bittersweet though, so prepare a tissue or two.

Emotional, tragic, beautiful, hopeful. It is heartbreaking and bittersweet.The depth in each character, the effort put into the plot...The feels....It's 12:20 am, I have finished it at midnight. I am not over it, and my tears are still rolling.

But that last volume really hits you in the feels. This whole manga felt like a chase, so I'm glad the last volume delivered. It was bittersweet, but I'm content at the way it ended. /super spoiler/ I thought it would end completely platonically but it didn't ayyyy.

I can't recommend this manga enough. It's a favorite of mine now, but my sister had to insist that I read it before I started it. It begins almost as a lighthearted slice-of-life story, but the character depth and relationships are so complex the ending ends up having to be sad. (I wouldn't really call it a tragedy, since it's just realistic. It not sad for the sake of being sad.)

Golden Days may be a shounen ai, but the love story isn't the main plot. Strictly speaking it's really more of an historical mystery. I like to view it as primarily a coming of age story. Mitsuya, who speaks without thinking and doesn't like being touched when the manga begins, has grown into a thoughtful and mature young man by the end of the manga. Despite what he's lost, he's a much stronger person.

This manga says a lot of about overcoming loss and death, loyalty and friendship, and a bit about love too. Even the minor characters are intriguing and have complex motivations (Yoshimitsu is one I still can't figure out.) It leaves many questions at the end that will have you thinking about this manga for a long time. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it.

I've read this for a long, long time, but I never can shake it out of my heart. It's always one of my fav shounen-ai manga ever, regarding that I've read so many BL so far I've lost count.I love the art, the theme, the author's way of storytelling...Maybe it's bias if I say that I love everything about this manga. Oh, I hate the ending though.After a long time fighting finally this piece got licensed in my country, and I couldn't resist buying 2 sets of them - One to read, and one to cherish forever.

This manga is beautiful. Not just the art, but the themes too. It made me remember how short life is. This manga says so many things. Every time I reread it I find something new. There are so many little details that Takao-sensei added. Everything in the manga is to build up to the end. It has great character development--the characters are so realistic that I felt like I could look up historical records about them.

The truth is, i thought it was kind of boring and dropped it after vol.3... Though characters are nice, I don't get why it scored so many high ratings. Though I also don't get why I didn't like it that much. Maybe because for me it looked like this manga was mostly focused on historical details and lacked passion and love. Jin's feeling seemed not to change much till vol.4 - he is always the same towards Mitsuya, Mitsuya's thoughts are mostly about the differences between eras and people in general. I just don't see this thin red thread, linking them together ^^;But manga had some good points, and historical moments were interesting too.

this was the first shounen-ai manga that i read, and it was a great one to start with. The plot is generic, but its nicely executed, all the characters are pretty believable (i like the protagonist too, he was realistic and not the typical hero). This is not a happy manga though, i felt really bad for all of the characters, and it was heart breaking when

Spoiler (mouse over to view)

Mitsuya realizes what going to happen in the future, with the great kanto earthquake and WWII about to hit japan.

Overall, its a emotional, realistic (as much as it can be), and i recommend it.

Now that i've read more BL, i hope there will be more shounen-ai scenes as the romance progresses

I went through hell to look for the rest of the volumes. I can't contain myself after reading Chap 24 (of Vol 5)! I just had to look for the raw and finish the series. And after many hours of browsing the net, I finally found them!!! I've finished all 8 volumes and I'm going to read it all over again. This is one of those manga with a great story, wonderful characters, some witty scenes with a little unexpected side to the plot. I can't believe I missed this manga until now...! What have I been doing?

Spoiler:

Spoiler (mouse over to view)

I read the final chapter... when this guy hand the knight chess to Mitsuya, I burst into tears instantaneously. It was really painful. Things... just had to end this way. If only Mitsuya was able to stay with Jin... aaaaahhh I'm getting teary again, thinking about it.

I remember read this manga 3 years ago, in my dormitory room and my roommate got worries when i suddenly crying so hard. I hardly read all this series, i'm just read the final book and feel so sad. And then 3 years later, i mean today... my Golden Days series arrive, i bought it 3 days ago in internet. I read it... and crying again. I wonder why i'm not read all the book back then?

The most great story for shonen ai... the most beautiful relationship. The awesome plot story. And it make me enthusiasm to become a great mangaka. Someday. Must read.